Virtual Storage Area Networks (VSANs) may facilitate the distributed deployment of Virtual Machines (VMs). For example, a VSAN may include a plurality of virtual servers that host certain objects and/or components of a VM in a distributed configuration. In this example, one of these virtual servers may store a configuration file that identifies all of the VM's objects and/or components as well as their corresponding storage locations throughout the VSAN.
Unfortunately, due at least in part to the distributed nature of this deployment, conventional backup technologies may be unable to back up VMs deployed in VSANs without experiencing certain shortcomings and/or inefficiencies. For example, a conventional backup technology may initiate a backup of a VM by sending a backup request to the virtual server storing the VM's configuration file. In response to this backup request, the virtual server may begin to assemble all of the VM's objects and/or components by determining, based on the VM's configuration file, which of the VM's objects and/or components are hosted locally and which of the VM's objects and/or components are hosted remotely by other virtual servers. The virtual server may then gather the VM's locally hosted objects and/or components and obtain the VM's remotely hosted objects and/or components over the VSAN. By having the virtual server obtain the VM's remotely hosted objects and/or components over the VSAN, the conventional backup technology may potentially cause and/or lead to increased bandwidth consumption, performance bottlenecking, sequential backup processing, VSAN latency, and/or slow backup operations.
The instant disclosure, therefore, identifies and addresses a need for improved systems and methods for backing up VMs deployed in VSANs.